The best films of James Stewart: #11 "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940)

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“The Shop Around the Corner” is the original romcom classic directed by the legendary master of sophisticated comedy Ernst Lubitsch (“Ninotchka”). The film was adapted from a 1937 Hungarian play and given was has been labeled “The Lubitsch Touch.” Stewart’s leading lady Margaret Sullavan had started her career at the same time as friends Stewart and Henry Fonda in the same theater group when all were unknowns. Both men were in love with her and Sullavan married Fonda. The setting is a leather goods shop in Budapest where Stewart’s Alfred is top salesman and full of himself. He takes a dislike to new hire and competitor Klara (Sullavan) who returns the sentiment. Unknown to each other, Alfred and Klara are engaged in a mutual pen pal correspondence relationship. Alfred had responded to Klara’s personal’s ad in the newspaper. The image projected in letters differs from in person. They bicker and banter through misunderstandings. The film demonstrates Stewart’s comedic abilities. Sounds like a routine Hallmark movie, right? Yes, because “The Shop Around the Corner” originated this now familiar plot device. All romcoms basically begin here. The film was remade into the 1949 musical “In the Good Old Summertime” with Judy Garland and Van Johnson. Adapted into the 1963 Broadway musical “She Loves Me.” A 1996 Bollywood remake. “The Shop Around the Corner” was famously “modernized” in the 1998 remake “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.